Wow, Cubs. WOW. This was your year. It was basically a free ticket to the World Series. You were lucky when the Mets lost it at the end, and you were put into a match-up against the Dodgers(double take) Dodgers exactly a century after you won last time. ‘04 Red Sox all over again, right? Wrong. Instead, you were swept by a team that hadn’t won a playoff game in 20 years. And this year’s winner of the Johnny (BLEEPIN’) Dent award was a no name First Basemen who was hitting .214. Not exactly the kiss of death you expected, I guess. Here are the two categories where I think the losses came from the most.
1. Confidence
Even after 100 years of Championshiplessness, (yeah, I said it) the All-mighty Chicago Cubs rolled into the post-season a little less humble than they should have been. The Cover of Sports Illustrated made it seem like the post-season was a piece of cake. So when the Dodgers rolled into Wrigley, the Cubs had no fear. They were affected by their OWN REPUTATION. kind of sad for a team that should have gotten back to basics to become the champion of October. They came up to the plate more trying to Impress the Chicago faithful than just win the game. REMEMBER: THE FIRST PRIORITY IS TO WIN. So get that done, and then smack the homers and storm home plate. Los Angeles can wait. Just because you’re using Rich Harden doesn’t mean you’re invincible. That’s what they thought about CC, remember?
2. Motivation
Remember the 2007 Super Bowl? The plot line sounds familiar now doesn’t it. The New England Patriots were playing after their record-breaking regular season to try to claim the title of the greatest football team ever. The NY Giants were trying to get a two foot tall trophy and a bunch of rings. Now who was it that won? When a team is playing with everything at steak there is a lot of pressure on the athletes. Bu if they are playing for practically nothing, and are massive underdogs, they often play with more gusto and don’t get disappointed as easily. Imagine if you are the Giants. If they had just rolled over and died in front of Tom Brady. no one would have noticed, and NY still would have had a great season. But since they did win, it was hailed as one of the greatest Super Bowl victories ever.
